Interview with Eric Brace, GRAMMY-nominated children’s singer

I got the chance to inteview, Eric Brace,  from the GRAMMY-nominated children’s album, I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow.  Eric created the album with his duo partner, Peter Cooper.

1)  How did you get started in children’s music?

It was purely by chance. My duo partner Peter Cooper and I were talking about what our next record should be, when he found out that he and his wife were going to have their first child. He decided that Tom T.  Hall’s song “I Love” would be the first thing the baby was going to hear (other than his parents’ voices) after he was born. Peter actually took a CD player into the maternity ward and played that song for little Baker Cooper on his first day in the world. That song is off a 1974 kids record by the country great Tom T. Hall called “Songs of Fox Hollow”  which Peter used to listen to when he was a little boy. Somewhere in  all that, we decided to ask Tom T. himself if he would mind terribly if  we were to do a remake of that album, to help reintroduce a new  generation of kids to these great songs about life on the Hall’s farm,  called Fox Hollow. He was thrilled with the idea, and invited us to his  farm, where he’s got a recording studio, and that’s where we made the  record. We invited some of our favorite singers in Nashville to come and record those great songs with us, folks like Patty Griffin, Bobby Bare, Buddy Miller, Elizabeth Cook, Jim Lauderdale… We also knew them to  all be huge Tom T. Hall fans, so that was a crucial point when we asked  people to join in the fun. When the finished, the CD was nominated for a Grammy (in the Best Children’s Album category) we were incredibly proud.

2)  Describe your style of music.

The simplest way to describe it is to call it Americana, which is an  umbrella term for music that’s got its roots firmly in folk, country,  blues, and bluegrass. Peter and I incorporate all of that into our  style. We’re both acoustic guitar-playing singer-songwriters who throw a lot of things into the mix, but there  are always lots of harmonies and lots of stories. You’ll laugh, you’ll  cry… the whole deal.

 

3)  Where do you find inspiration for your lyrics and songs?

I find it all around me, watching people out in the world, trying to  imagine the story that their living in their lives. And of course my own life and the things I’ve gone through, but I tend to hide my tales in  metaphor and indirectness. Peter on the other hand writes lots of songs  that are frankly autobiographical. He’s maybe braver than I am.

 

4)  What are some of your favorite tracks on the CD and why?

Definitely the lead off track, “I Love,” which is sung by the  incredible singer Patty Griffin. Also “Sneaky Snake,” which Buddy Miller sings, but also features an incredible guitar solo by Duane Eddy, the  man who practically invented twangy instrumental guitar music in the  ’50s. it was mind blowing to work with him. I mean, he’s a member of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame!!! I’m also partial to the song I sing with  my band Last Train Home, “The Mysterious Fox of Fox Hollow,” it’s a  spooky sounding song that’s telling kids not to be spooked by nature.

 

5) Do you have any future productions in the works?

I am working on the finishing touches of something called “Hangtown  Dancehall” which I’m calling a folk opera about the California Gold  Rush. lt’s twenty songs that I’m writing with my friend Karl Straub (a  great D.C. area musician), and together they tell the story of a young  couple from Missouri that heads west to find their fortune back in 1850. That should be out early next year. Peter is working on a new solo CD  of his own songs, and I’m hoping to get Last Train Home in the studio  again this year as well.

 

See Eric Brace and Peter Cooper perform songs from this Grammy Nominated album at Wolf-Trap Children’s Theatre in the Woods on June 29th and 30th at 10:30 AM.  Tickets are available for sale here.  Come join the fun for a show your whole family will love!

Win a copy of the CD on my giveaway page. 

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